L^'!i?'^'>^*^^ 


-^i] 
* 


UC-NRLF 


B   ^   505  763 


RHODE    ISLAND    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY 


THE  SEAL 
THE  ARMS  AND  THE  FLAG 

—OF— 

RHODE  ISLAND 


■  * 


THE  SEAL 
THE  ARMS  AND  THE  FLAG 

—OF— 

RHODE  ISLAND 


BY 

HOWARD    M.    CHAPIN 

LIBRARIAN  OF  THE  RHODE  ISLAND  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


PROVIDENCE 

PRINTED    FOR    THE    SOCIETY 
1913 


The  author  acknovvledjjes  with  thanks  the  assistance  of 

Former  Governor  D.  Russell  Brown,  Hon.  J.  Fred 
Parker,  Secretary  of  State,  Dr.  Charles  V.  Chapin, 
Mr.  George  Parker  Winship,  and  Mr.  Clarence  S. 
Brigham. 


c      » 


?  _• 


•     ^       •    •     -     • . 
.....      .     .,     ' 

.   .  •:  •     •  •• 


PUBLICATION     COMMITTEE 


William    MacDonald 
Harry   Lyman      Koopman 
Theodore   Francis  Green 


CALOER    PRINTING    COMPANY 


The  official  seal  of  Rhode  Island  has  been  an  anchor  ever  since 
the  formal  union  of  the  four  settlements  in  May,  1647. 

Ho\ve\'er,  previous  to  this  wc  hncl,  in  i'')4i.  the  followin'j;'  entry 
in  the  records  of  Newport: 

■"15.  It  is  ordered,  that  a  flannel  Seale  shall  be  provided  for 
the  State,  and  that  the  Signett  or  Engraving"  thereof,  shall  be  a 
sheafe  of  Arrows  bound  ui\  and  in  the  Lies>  or  Bond,  this  motto  in- 
dented :  "Amor  \incet  omnia.'     (R.  I.  Col.  Rec.  v.  I,  p.  iii.) 

llie  expression  Manuel  Seale  clearly  meant  a  seal  to  be  used 
bv  the  hand. 

ml 

In  regard  to  the  word  Liess,  Mr.  Sidney  S.  Rider,  in  Book 
Notes.  February  14,  1903,  (\'ol.  20,  No.  4),  page  one,  writes  as  fol- 
lows: "The  word  Liess  is  evidently  a  corruption  of  the  old  English 
word  Lease,  meaning  a  leathern  thong  commonlv  used  by  falconers 
for  their  hawks  or  hounds."  This  word  has  come  down  to  us  as 
leash. 

Governor  Samuel  G.  Arn.uld  in  his  Historv  of  Rhode  Island, 
page  149,  makes  the  following  comment  on  the  use  of  the  word 
State : 

"The  word  'State'  appears  for  the  first  time  in  this  decree.  The 
possession  of  a  seal  has  always  been  held  as  one  of  the  insignia  of 
sovereignty,  or  of  exclusive  rights.  Its  adoption  by  a  yet  unchar- 
tered government  was  significant."  '\\\.  Rider  says:  "The  use  of  the 
word  State  in  this  ordinance  is  singular,  since  it  was  four  years  be- 
fore the  date  of  the  \\'arwick  Charter  (1643),  and  eight  years  before 
the  union  of  the  four  towns  {1647)  nnder  that  Instrument. 

"It  could  not  have  been  used  under  the  same  implication  that  it 
now  has,  unless,  possibly,  it  may  have  been  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  devised  it,  that  Newport  w^as  to  become  a  State  or  Colony." 

This  seal  has  appropriately  been  adopted  as  the  basis  of  the  de- 
sign of  the  seal  of  the  Newport  Historical  Society. 

In  1647  the  four  original  towns  uniting  under  the  Charter,  held 
the  first  General  Assembly,  then  styled  the  General  Court  cf  Elec- 
tion, at  Portsmouth,  on  the  19th,  20th  and  21st  of  Mav.  At  this 
meeting  the  anchor  was  adot:)ted  as  the  official  seal. 


.  '   €  y    <*    *  Z    .    *  .'  ^    <    ■    ,  J   ,    •   .       t  ■ 


"18.  It  is  ordered  that  the  Seale  of  the  Province  shall  be  an 
Anchor."  [A  sketch  of  an  anchor  appears  at  the  end  of  this  entry 
in  the  original  records.]  (  R.  I.  Col.  Rec.  orig.  p.  163,  pr.  vol.  i.  p. 
151-) 

Mr,  Rider. says:  "No  suggestion  has  come  down  to  us  concern- 
ing the  originator  of  the  idea;  but  certain  records  e.xist  in  which  it 
became  necessary  for  Roger  Vv^illiams  to  use  an  individual  Seal,  and 
the  anchor  was  the  device  which  he  used." 

The  record  to  which  Tvlr.  Rider  refers  was  a  deed  signed  by 
Roger  Williams,  20  Dec,  1661,  and  sealed  with  an  oval  seal  bearing 
an  anchor.     (  Prov.  Town  Rec.  pr.   vol.  5,  p.  309,  orig.  vol.  3,  p.  454.) 

On  page  19  of  the  Report  on  the  Governor  Benedict  Arnold 
Burial  Place,  made  to  the  (General  Assembly  in  January,  1901,  by 
James  N.  Arnold,  there  is  an  illustration  of  the  seal  of  Governor 
Benedict  Arnold.  This  seal  is  a  foul  anchor  in  an  oval,  with  the 
word  "Hope"  above  the  anchor  and  the  initials  "B.  A.,"  one  on  each 
side  of  the  anchor.  The  seal  itself  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Rhode 
Island  Historical  Society. 

Mr.  Arnold  says,  referring  to  the  illustration  (No.  4)  :  "No.  4  is 
the  letter  seal  of  the  governor  which  gives  the  origin  of  our  state 
seal."     Mr.  Rider  dissents  from  this  view. 

Inasmuch  as  the  seal  of  the  state  up  to  1664  was  a  plain  anchor, 
without  the  motto  "Hope,"  and  as  in  1664  the  motto  "Hope"  and 
the  cable  were  added,  it  seems  far  more  probable  that  Governor 
Arnold,  after  1664,  adopted  the  state's  seal  as  his  own  and  added  his 
initials,  than  that  the  _-tate  seal  of  1647  was  derived  from  Arnold's 
seal,  the  motto  and  cable  being  omitted. 

The  anchoi  was  a  comparatively,  common  design  on  seals  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  both  in  England  and  in  the  Colonies. 

There  were  two  anchor  se;ils  in  common  use  in  Rhode  Island. 
One  appears  opposite  John  Whipple's  name  on  a  deed  dated  23  Nov., 
1663.  (R-  !•  H.  Si.  M'ss.  16.)  This  seal  is  oval,  about  five  eighths  of 
an  inch  long,  and  bears  a  plain  anchor.  It  again  appears  on  R.  I. 
H.  S.,  Mss.  1 10,  which  is  dated  1690. 


THE  ORIGINAL  DESIGN  FOR  THE  SEALE 

FROM  THE  COLONIAL  RECORDS 

OF  1647. 


The  other  anchor  seal  is  very  similar.  The  oval  is  not  (juite  so 
long,  being  a  little  over  half  an  inch  in  length.  The  shank  of  the 
anchor  is  si  oittr,  the  flukes  flatter  and  spread  apart  more.  '1  he 
ring  at  the  top  is  more  of  a  circle,  and  all  the  lines  of  the  design  are 
liner,     llie  effect  is  that  of  a  smaller  or  daintier  seal. 

The  earliest  impression  we  have  of  this  is  on  a  document  signetl 
by  Robert  Cohvell,  and  dated  3  January,  1666-7,  R-  f-  H.  S.  Alss.  ly. 

It  also  appe?rs  on  R.  I.  H.  S.  Alss.  ^3^  38  and  50;  dated  respec- 
tively 4  Feb.,  1674;  II  March,  1674,  and  15  Dec,  1680. 

h^-om  copies  of  the  early  Providence  deeds,  it  ap.pears  that  these 
or  other  similar  "anchor"  seals  wei"e  in  very  common  use  in  this 
colony,  appearing  opposite  many  different  names  on  these  old  deeds. 
In  Colonial  times  seals  were  scarce,  and  it  w^as  not  possible  for  each 
person  to  have  his  own  seal  and  affix  it  when  he  si'.ji'ed  a  document. 
Instead,  generally  only  one  or  two  of  the  leading  men  in  a  town 
owned  a  seal,  and  these  seals  were  used  promiscuously  opposite  the 
signer's  names,  as  little  red  labels  are  used  today. 

A  seal  with  a  foul  anchor  appears  on  several  of  the  manuscripts 
preserved  in  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  Society,  which  date  from 
the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

In  1680  John  Stokes  dated  a  letter  at  London,  3  July,  1680, 
which  he  sealed  with  an  anchor  seal  and  addressed  to  "Howlong 
tiarris.  Daughter  of  Wm.  Harris,  residing  at     Providence." 

The  seal  is  an  oval,  bearing  a  foul  anchor,  with  the  ring  at  one 
side  of  the  shank  and  the  initial  E  at  the  left  of  the  anchor.  (Harris 
papers,  p.   133.) 

The  (Governor  Arnold  seal,  we  have  already  mentioned. 

Robert  Daniel  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  who  died  in  1655,  "sed  an 
Oval  seal  bearing  a  foul  anchor.  An  illustration  of  this  appears  in 
Jameson's  History  of  Aledway,  page  468. 

On  a  document  issued  by  the  General  Assembly,  taking  posses- 
sion, on  behalf  of  the  Colony,  of  a  recently  discovered  gold  mine, 
appears  the  !^rst  known  use  of  the  state's  seal.  The  document  is 
dated  March   10,  1648,  and  at  the  end  is  a  shield  bearing  an  anchor 


n^--^.^^*-" 


1690 


1664 


1865 


1763 


1782 


lH7j 


upon  it.  The  seal  is  not  made  of  wax,  but  is  merely  a  pen  and  ink 
sketch.  This  document  is  Providence  Town  Paper,  No.  012.  Similar 
pen  and  ink  seals  appear  on  Providence  Town  Documents  Xo.  01084 
and  No.  01096,  neither  of  which  are  dated.  No.  01084.  however,  is  a 
copy  of  the  resolution  of  1648,  mentioning  the  ivory  seal  presented 
by  William  Dyre. 

At  the  meeting"  of  the  General  Assembly  at  Providence,  May  16th, 
1648,  "It  is  ord  'J^iat  the  Seale  of  Yuory,  prsented  by  Wm.  Dyre 
shall  be  the  seale  of  the  State  for  the  prsent  to  Seale  the  writts  origi- 
nall  and  Judiciall  or  other  records."  (R.  I.  Col.  Rec.  orig.  p.  194,  pr. 
p.  213,  and  Prov.  Town  Papers,  01084.) 

It  appears  from  the  wording  of  this  resolution  that  for  some 
reason,  perhaps   poor  workmanship,   this  seal   was  not  satisfactory. 

It  is  probable  that  this  was  the  first  seal  of  the  Colony  of  Rhode 
Island,  as  it  is  the  lirst  record  referring  to  the  actual  seal,  the  design 
having  been  speciii-ed  the  preceding  May.  Doubtless  William  Dyre, 
who  was  at  that  time  General  Recorder  of  the  Colony,  assumed 
under  the  resolve  of  1647,  the  duty  of  having  the  seal  made,  a  duty 
naturally  incumbent  upon  his  oi^ce,  and  in  his  official  capacity  pre- 
sented the  new  seal  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly, 
which  occurred  in  May,   1648. 

There  is  no  impression  of  this  seal  now  known  to  exist. 

This  seal  apparently  continued  in  use  as  the  Colony  seal  until 
1660,  when  a  new  seal,  which  John  Clarke  had  had  made  in  England, 
superceded  it.  At  the  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  (General 
Court  of  Commissioners),  at  Warwick,  i8th  of  October,  1660,  it 
was  "Ordered,  That  the  Genel  Recorder  is  Authorized  to  demaund 
and  Receive  the  Seale  Sent  by  mr.  John  clarke,  of  mr.  Nicholas 
Easton."     (R.  I.  Col.  Rec.  orig.,  p.  100,  pr.  p.  436.) 

There  is  no  impression  of  this  second  state  seal  now  known  to 
exist. 

At  the  meeting  of  the    General    Assembly,    held    at    Newport 
March  i,  1663-64,  it  was  "Ordered  That  for  the  presant,  the  old  Seale 
that  hath  ben  the  Seale  of  the  Collony,  shall  be  the  presant  Seale  of 
the  Collony,  to  be  fixed  to  any  Commission  that  may    be    granted 


forth,  or  any  matters  of  publicke  Concearnment  and  that  with  what 
Convenient  Speed  that  may  bee,  a  new  Seale  be  procured."  (R.  I. 
Col.  Rec,  orig  p.  132,  pr.,  v.  2,  p.  ^2.) 

What  the  trouble  was  that  caused  the  above  resolution  to  be 
passed  we  do  not  know,  but  it  seems  safe  to  assume  that  there  had 
been  both  a  misuse  of  seals  and  a  dissatisfaction  with  the  desien  or 
workmanship  of  the  seal  then  in  use.  The  seal  was  presumably  the 
second  seal,  the  one  that  Clarke  sent  over  from  England.  The  ex- 
pression "Old  Seale,"  however  may  refer  to  the  Dyre  seal,  in  which 
case  the  purpose  of  the  resolution  may  have  been  to  reinstate  the 
Dyre  seal  in  place  of  the  Clarke  seal. 

On  May  4th,  1664,  the  General  Assembly,    sitting   at    Newport, 

"O'rdered,  That  the  Sesle,  with  the    mottoe    Rhod    Hand    and 

providence  plantations,  with  the  word   Hope  over  the  head  of  the 

Anker,  is  the  presant  Seale  of  the  Collony."     (R.  I.  Col.  Rec,  crig. 

p.  134,  pr.  vol.  2,  p.  41.) 

There  are  several  impressions  from  this  seal  in  the  State  Ar- 
chives on  papers  in  the  volumes  entitled  "Proceedings  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly." 

This  seal  is  one  and  eleven-sixteenths  of  an  inch  in  diameter. 
In  the  centre  is  an  upright  foul  anchor,  with  the  word  "Hope"  above 
it.  Surrounding  the  whole,  on  a  band  is  the  inscription,  "The  Colnie 
of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations."  Mr,  Rider  believes 
that  "The  attachment  of  the  cable  to  the  anchor  was  doubtless  the 
work  of  the  designer."  Certainly  there  i:^  niTthing  in  the  acts  of  tlie 
General  Assembly  to  warrant  the  use  of  the  foul  anchor. 

llie  seal  remained  in  use  until  November,  1687.  when,  according 
to  Arnold's  History  of  Rhode  Island,  it  was  broken  by  order  of  Sir 
Edmund  Andros. 

During  the  regime  of  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  the  so-called  Andros 
seal  was  theoretically  the  seal  of  Rhode  Island,  although  we  have 
found  no  instance  of  its  use  in  this  colony. 

This  seal  was  "engraved  on  the  one  side  wdth  his  Majesty's 
effigies  standing  under  a  canopy,  robed  in  his  royal  vestments  and 


crowned,  witli  a  sceptre  in  the  left  hand,  the  right  hand  i:)eing  ex- 
tended towards  an  KngHshnian  and  an  IncHan,  both  Kneeling;  the 
one  presenting  the  fruits  of  the  country,  and  the  other  a  scroll,  and 
over  their  heads  a  Cherubin  holding  another  scroll  with  this  motto: 
Nunquam  libertas  gratior  extat,  with  his  IMajesty's  titles  around  the 
circumference;  there  being  on  the  other  sifle  the  King's  arms,  with 
the  garter,  crown,  supporters  and  motto,  and  this  inscri])tioii  around 
the  circumference:  Sigillum  Novae  Angliae  in  America." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly,  at  Newport,  March  3, 
1689-90.  the  Andros  government  having  been  overthrown,  it  was 
"Ordered,  That  the  seal  brought  in  i)y  Mr.  Arnold  Collins,  being  the 
Anchor,  with  the  motto  'Hope,"  is  appointed  to  be  the  Seal  of  the 
Collony,  he  lia\  ing  been  employed  by  this  Assembly  to  make  it." 

"Ordered.  That  the  said  Collony's  Seal  be  in  the  Governor's 
custody,  for  the  Collony's  use."     (R.  I.  Col.  Rec.  pr.  vol.  3.  p.  264.) 

This  seal  is  in  size  and  general  form  the  same  as  th.e  seal  of  1664. 
However,  the  outer  embossed  line  of  the  band  is  about  twice  as  wide 
as  on  the  former  seal,  and  the  inscriijiion  is  omitted  from  the  band.. 
The  anchor  is,  as  before,  a  foul  anchor. 

Impressions  from  this  seal  appear  on  several  documents  in  the 
volumes  of  "Proceedings  of  the  General  Assembly."  in  the  State 
Archives. 

This  seal  was  doubtless  used  until  1741,  when  at  a  meeting  of 
the  General  Assembl}-,  held  at  Newport,  the  fourth  Monday  in  June, 
1741,  it  was 

"Voted  and  resoh-ed,  that  His  Honor,  the  Governor,  procure  a 
new  seal  for  the  Colony,  to  be  engraven  with  the  same  motto  as  the 
old  seal  had;      .      .      ."     (R.  I.  Col.  Rec,  pr.  vol.  5.  p.  26.) 

The  governor  at  this  time  was  Richard  Ward  of  Newp(irt,  who 
apparently  did  nothing  about  getting  a  new  seal,  for  the  old  seal  of 
1690  still  continued  to  be  used,  appearing  upon  the  Acts  and  Re- 
solves as  late  as  1763. 

In  May,  1763,  a  new  seal  appears  on  the  records.  The  shield  is 
of  the  ordinary  rectangular  form,  and  bears  a  foul  anchor.     x\bove 


f. 


A.       /. 


ki 


> 


s 

|/"<. ...!.<, ,',^v 

*'  1  fi  i-i  f'  •'■'  *  ^-»' 


1892 


PRESENT    SEAL 


the  shield  is  the  word  "Hope."  A  single  dotted  band  surrounds  the 
shield  and  motto.  On  the  field  between  the  band  and  shield  are  sev- 
eral floral  sprigs. 

Impressions  of  this  seal  appear  on  the  Acts  and  Resolves  from 
1763  to  1782. 

In  May,  1782,  a  new  seal  comes  into  use.  This  seal  has  the  foul 
anchor  displayed  upon  a  Norman  shield,  above  which  is  the  word 
"Hope."  A  dotted  band  surromided  the  whole,  while  suspended 
from  rings  at  each  upper  point  of  the  shield,  hangs  drapery  with 
scroll  designs  above  it. 

Impressions  from  this  seal  appear  on  the  Acts  and  Resolves 
from   1782  to  1798. 

In  1865  a  new  seal  appears  on  the  Acts  and  Resolves.  The 
anchor  is  still  fouled,  the  shield  is  fancy  and  is  surmounted  by  rays 
and  the  word  "Hope."    No  inscription  surrounds  it. 

Impressions  from  this  seal  appear  on  the  Governor's  Proclama- 
tion for  1865,  and  on  the  Acts  and  Resolves  for  1866. 

On  February  24,  1875,  the  General  Assembly  passed  the  follow- 
ing act : 

CHAPTER  441. 

An  Act  in  relation  to  the  seal  of  the  State. 
It  is  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  as  follows : 

Section  i.  There  shall  continue  to  be  one  seal  for  the  public 
use  of  the  State;  the  form  of  an  anchor  shall  be  engraven  thereon, 
the  motto  thereof  shall  be  the  word  "Hope,"  and  in  a  circle  around 
the  same  shall  be  engraven  the  words :  "Seal  of  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island  and  Providence  Plantations,  1636." 

The  above  act  is  Section  2,  Chapter  5  of  the  General  Laws. 

A  new  seal  was  cut  to  meet  the  rec}uirements  of  the  act.  The 
anchor  was  still  fouled.  Impressions  from  the  seal  appear  on  the 
Acts  and  Resolves  in  the  Secretary  of  State's  Office. 

In  1892  a  new  seal  again  appears  on  the  Acts  and  Resolves.  This 
seal  has  the  anchor  plain  and  not  fouled.  Except  for  that  it  is  similar 
to  the  seal  of  1871;.  which  it  su^nlanted. 


In  1912  a  new  seal  was  cnt,  to  replace  the  seal  of  1892,  which  had 

become  worn  out.     Practically  the  only  difference  is  in  the  style  of 

the  letterinij;'  in  the  circle.     The  "i^^3<')"  is  in  narrower 'figures. 

This  is  the  present  official  seal  of  the  state  of  Rhode  Island. 

*       *       * 

Rhode  Island  did  not  formally  adopt  a  Coat  of  Arms  until  1882. 
Up  to  that  time  the  design  of  the  seal  had  been  constantly  followed 
as  the  design  for  the  Arms. 

The  so-called  seal  on  the  Providence  Town  Papers.  012.  01084, 
01096,  may  well  be  considered  as  the  Colony's  Coat  of  Arms:  A 
^.hield  bearing  an  anchor,  no  colors  being  specified.  This  would 
make  the  first  use  cf  Arms  occur  in  1648.  the  plain  anchor  then  be- 
ing the  design. 

The  design  for  the  Arms,  as  we  have  said,  followed  that  of  the 
seal,  so  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  so-called  Digest  of  1730,  we  find 
the  Colony's  arms  depicted  as  a  foul  anchor.  The  shield  is  sur- 
rounded by  an  extensive  ornamental  desig-n. 

From  1753  to  1758  the  Arms  of  King  George  of  England  were 
used  by  the  Colony  on  the  printed  Acts  and  Resolves,  the  seal  of  the 
state  also  being  affixed. 

In  June,  1760,  the  Arms  of  the  Colony  were  printed  at  the  end 
of  the  Acts  and  Resolves  for  that  session.  The  design  is  the  same  as 
that  used  on  the  Digest  of  1730. 

From  this  time  to  1882  the  Arms  of  Rhode  Island  continue  to  be 
the  foul  anchor  on  the  shield,  and  the  motto  "Hope."  The  shape  of 
the  shield  and  the  design  surrounding  it,  take  on  various  forms  ac- 
cording to  the  taste  or  skill  of  the  engraver.  During  the  latter  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century  the  motto  'Tn  God  we  hope,"  some  times 
replaced  the  word  "Hope"  on  the  State's  arms. 

In  1881  the  Public  Statutes  were  compiled,  and  it  was  voted  at 
the  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  in  May.  1881,  that  they  should 
go  into  effect  Feb.  i.  1882. 

Section  i  of  chapter  5,  which  formally  recognized  the  State's 
Arms,  reads  as  follows : 


"Section  i.  The  Arms  of  the  State  are  a  goklen  anchor  on  a 
bhie  fifUl,  and  the  motto  thereof  is  the  word  Hope." 

HerakHcally  the  arms  woukl  be  blazoned  "Aznre  an  anchor  or," 
with  the  motto  "Hope."" 

No  mention  is  made  of  the  anchor  being  foulech  hence  a  phiin 
anchor  shonkl  be  presnmed.  Since  1882  the  plain  anchor  has  nn- 
qncstionably  become  the  charge  of  the  State"s  arms. 

Tile  present  arms  nsed  by  the  State  on  its  stationery  and  pub- 
lications, are  said  to  be  the  design  of  Judge  G.  M.  Carpenter. 

^:  *  * 

In  1780  the  United  States  authorized  each  state  to  use  a  state 
tlag,  and  it  seems  probable  that  Riicde  Island  adopted  one  at  this 
time. 

In  his  message  of  1897,  Governor  Lippitt  says,  in  regard  to  this: 

"Subsequently,  in  general  orders,  dated  Army  Headquarters, 
New  Winsor,  N.  Y.,  October  2,  1770,  General  Washington  prescribed 
dark  blue  as  the  standard  color  of  the  uniform  of  the  Continental 
Line  of  the  Revolution,  and  that  the  facings  of  the  New  Hampshire, 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut  regiments  should  be 
white.  On  February  20,  1780,  the  Continental  Board  of  War^  in 
Philadelphia,  Penn..  issued  a  regulation  prescribing  that  every  regi- 
ment of  the  resjiective  state  lines  should  have  two  Hags,  one  the 
United  States  and  the  other  the  state,  'the  ground  whereof  to  be  the 
color  of  the  facing."  White,  therefore,  become  the  authorized 
color  for  the  ground  of  the  Rhode  Island  emblem."' 

No  formal  action,  however,  was  taken  in  regard  to  the  state  Hag 
until  1877,  when  on  March  30  the  General  Assem])ly  passed  the  fol- 
lowing  act: 

CHAPTER  628. 
It  is  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  as  follows : 

Section  i.  The  flag  of  the  state  shall  be  a  foul  anchor  with  the 
motto  "HO'PE.""  the  whole  to  be  surrounded  by  a  scroll,  around 
which,  in  a  circle,  shall  be  as  many  stars  as  there  are  states  in  the 
Union.  The  color  of  the  anchor,  motto  and  stars  shall  be  blue,  the 
scroll  red  in  the  centre  of  a  white  field. 


STATE  FLAG 


STATE  ARMS 


Sec.  2.     Tliis  act  shall  take  effect  from  and  after  its  passag-e. 

From  1780  to  1882  the  ground  of  the  etate  Hag  was  white,  but  for 
some  unexplained  reason  it  was  changed  to  blue  in  the  revision  of 
the  (ieneral  Laws,  which  was  made  in   1882. 

Section  3  of  Ch.apter  5,  Title  2  of  the  General  Laws  of  1882, 
reads  as  follows  : 

Sec.  3.  The  Pag  of  the  State  shall  be  blue  and  in  the  centre  thereof 
shall  be  represented  a  golden  anchor,  surrounded  by  thirteen  golden 
stars. 

The  field  of  the  flag  remained  blue  until  1897,  when,  acting  upon 
the  suggestion  ofifered  by  (Governor  Lippitt  in  his  message,  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  changed  it  to  white. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  here  that  from  1877  to  1882  the  scroll  on 
the  flag  was  red.  This  is  the  only  period  that  red  appeared  on  our 
state  flag. 

On  May  19,  1897,  the  General  Assembly  passed  the  following 
act : 

CHAPTER  460. 

It  is  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  as  follows: 

Section  i.  Section  3  of  Chapter  5  of  the  General  Laws,  "Of 
The  Arms,  The  Seal  and  The  Flag  of  the  State,"  is  hereby  amended 
so  as  to  read  as  follows : 

Sec.  3.  The  flag  of  the  state  shall  be  white,  five  feet  and  six 
inches  fly  and  four  feet  and  ten  inches  deep  on  the  pike,  bearing  on 
each  side  in  the  centre  a  golden  anchor,  twenty-two  inches  high,  and 
underneath  it  a  blue  ribbon  twenty-four  inches  long  and  five  inches 
wide,  or  in  these  jjroportions,  with  the  motto  "Hope,"  in  golden  let- 
ters thereon,  the  whole  surrounded  by  thirteen  golden  stars  in  a 
circle.  The  flag  to  be  edged  with  yellow  fringe.  The  pike  shall  be 
surmounted  by  a  spear-head  and  the  length  of  the  pike  shall  be  nine 
feet,  not  including  the  spear-head.  ' 

Sec.  2.     This  act  shall  take  efifect  immediately. 


1750713 

RsCs 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


3   - ! 


■  .^'-.-yiS?/- 


r^f^^A' 


I 


